Whisker Menu is an alternative to the Xfce application menu that features a search function so you can easily find the application you want to launch. The menu also supports browsing apps by category, you can add applications to favorites and more. The menu is used by default in Linux Mint 15 Xfce.

The application was updated recently, getting a much requested feature: you can now open the menu using a keyboard shortcut (though you must add the keyboard shortcut manually - see below), along with other enhancements and fixes.

Changes in Whisker Menu 1.1.0:

Added external command to popup menu;

Added option to show label with or instead of icon;

Add option to switch categories by hovering;

Added choosing icon sizes of launchers and categories;

Added scrolling to sidebar;

Added menu action to clear recently used;

Added menu actions to sort favorites alphabetically;

Added icons to context menu;

New search algorithm;

Refactored category code;

Show launcher name in context menu;

Many fixes and other changes.

To open Whisker Menu using a keyboard shortcut, do the following: from the Xfce Settings > Keyboard, on the "Application Shortcuts" tab, click "Add" and use "xfce4-popup-whiskermenu" (without the quotes) for the command. Then assign it a keyboard shortcut (make sure it's not already in use) and that's it.

Install Whisker Menu in Xubuntu

To add the official PPA and install Whisker Menu in (X)Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10 or 12.04 (with Xfce 4.8), use the commands below: